The Sake of Forever
by Remoyuki
Summary: Yurika was a beta tester before quitting on SAO, but ended up buying the game anyway. Unfortunately, SAO plans on keeping her from being able to quit this time, as she's been trapped in a game that threatens her life. With old and new friends, she joins a Guild. They aim for the top and somehow all end up...falling in love? This is why she quit online gaming. (YURI and GENDERBENDS)
1. VMMORPGs

**_Well hey there, SAO readers! I cannot believe there are no yuri stories here, so... well, I wanted to make one. Also, any SAO fan can definitely get a kick out of NitoryuNoKami's (my beta's) stories. Very good, very plot driven and just overall awesome._**

**_Just before you get disgusted with me and my dirty work and shame me to the depths of Aincrad hell, this is YURI (with original characters) and _**everyone**_ from the series has been genderbent. Meaning: Kirito is a girl, Asuna is a boy, so on and so forth. Don't like? Don't read. Please._**

**_Disclaimer: I'm poor. Nuff said._**

* * *

**_The Sake of Forever_**

**_Chapter 1: VRMMORPGs_**

* * *

It had been a long time since she had turned to her computer and played a game online. With the rise of subscriptions and high prices to certain games, she didn't have the resources to continue to pay for them. Not to mention too many hackers.

But when one game, or rather, the beta, came out for Sword Art Online, she felt she had to check it out. She saw a completely new world with nearly perfect realistic effects and feelings. It was like she acquired another life. It was short lived though, and she slowly grew bored of it after a month.

When the actual game came out, everyone she knew went crazy, hurrying to buy the some 10,000 copies being sold, herself owning one of them.

"You have to play it!" they told her at the register, excited just to see people buying the game. She didn't see why it was such a big deal seeing as the beta wasn't that exciting, but she figured playing the real thing would be better.

At home, she ignored her brothers begging her to play with them, and her sister stayed silent as she roamed their house with a box in her arms, shutting her door with a loud slam to tell them to leave her alone.

The Nerve Gear sat her desk, dust collecting at the edges of the thing from not being used for a few months. She wiped it off with her sleeve and tossed it to her bed, making sure to get all the wiring correct before starting it. Placing the game into the tray, she took a deep breath and connected everything before laying on her bed.

"Here goes nothing," she whispered, placing the Nerve Gear on her head, hearing it start up. The whirrs and rumbles of everything powering up made her gulp.

"Link...start!"

Her vision went black, then colors appeared everywhere, followed by a check of her five senses, a language box popping up after it. After she typed her user information into the login screen, she was asked if she wanted to use her beta test data, which she agreed to, and then... the welcome screen.

_Welcome to Sword Art Online._

Blue appeared all around her, and she opened her eyes to see a fountain in her face, water spurting onto her skin in little droplets.

She ran a hand through her red hair and sighed, staring at the single gloved hand of hers. "So I'm back..." to emphasize her statement, she stretched a bit and turned, seeing all sorts of people walking around, laughing and smiling. They all mostly had the same clothes: a long sleeve, some chest plate thing, pants and brown gloves and boots. It was completely different than what she had seen in the beta, but probably something they had to start out with before getting the fancy clothes.

Aincrad was huge, she knew that by looking up into the artificial sky that looked so utterly real. But she knew only the strongest people could go and reach the top. She had heard from other beta testers that there was a certain person who held the most power in the game, but so far it only proved to be another rumor. That didn't mean she couldn't try to be that person, now that she had spent a large amount of her savings to buy the game.

"Oh hey, Yurika," a male voice called out, patting her on the head quite harshly. Yurika looked up to see a familiar face from the beta, extremely long blonde hair, a single, short braid hanging down to his right and blue eyes gleaming in excitement. "I somehow knew you'd appear here!"

Treino was from America, and she vaguely remembered that he had been in her mini party for a time before going solo; Yurika didn't know why he remembered she had logged out at this spot specifically, but it was nice of him to greet her. She felt her eyebrow twitch when she caught sight of his fancy silk blue shirt and black shining chest plate, probably from the beta as well. "Hey, Treino," she said, giving him a small smile. "You excited to be back here?"

"Oh yeah! The beta was awesome, but now we can actually see the entire thing of SAO, you know?!" he nearly hopped in joy and laughed to himself, rubbing his blonde locks with embarrassment, "You think she'll be here too?"

During the beta, which was really an experience she didn't want to remember, Treino and this girl whose name escaped her became close enough to form a sort of relationship, but shortly had it fall apart when the time limit came in and broke them up. Yurika hadn't seen it happen, as she had logged out before the testing was over. "Probably," she replied, shrugging.

The two walked around together, reminiscing about things from their early days in SAO and seeing people they had met before, commenting on people they thought would be strong and so forth. However, when they reached the end of the town and saw the open field, Yurika stopped walking.

Treino murmured a confusing hum and leaned down to whisper, pointing forward where two guys were practicing their moves. Rather, one was, the other was simply watching him move. "You think he's from the beta too?" he asked nervously. Normally, they wouldn't blatantly show off their moves out in the open where others could see, mainly because they didn't want to be used as guinea pigs by the new players.

"Probably," Yurika replied, slipping around him to reach for the spot where her weapon once sat. "Treino, you know a place I can buy a weapon?" There were very few weapons shops, and so little time before everything was gone; she needed something fast, otherwise she'd be stuck with a dinky sword.

The blonde thought for a moment before snapping his fingers, "Cullan! I remember where his store is!" Without warning he grabbed Yurika's sleeve and dragged her at an abnormal rate, twisting and turning and nearly making her slam into brick walls.

After another large arc of running, Treino stopped his running and placed his hands on his hips, smiling at the wooden sign of the shop that was still empty, "Here we are! You remember Cullan, right? He made those wooden swords?"

Yurika shrugged, not very interested in old information, "I don't, but, I need something before he sells out." She walked in with a light shove of the door, alerting the bored looking clerk and sending him a smile, "Hey."

"I remember you," he said, pointing his finger at her, eying her suspiciously. Yurika looked around at all the expensive weapons on the walls, leading down to the cheapest ones. "Yurika, right? You used that voodoo magic on us one night in the beta and stole all my potions!"

Cullan was a typical looking player (or character): short green hair, green eyes, pale skin...but he was smart and he was reliable. Yurika scoffed at his accusation, "I didn't use voodoo magic. I put a sleeping potion on you guys because you would've died. That boss that you wanted to beat? Yeah, he demolished everyone who went in." She reached for a white bow, a red gem gleaming on the polished metal. It wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light either. The string was also durable and pretty thick. "How much?"

It took him a second to think, seeing as it wasn't priced anything, and Cullan sighed when he saw the look in her eyes, "Fine, take it. Just for payback for saving us that night. I do expect full payment for the potions you stole though."

Yurika rolled her eyes and looked around, walking over to the line of swords. There were black ones and white ones and girly ones...Yurika's eyes settled on two weapons, tossing her weapon to the browsing Treino to carry for a second. "How much for these?"

She held up two full arm's length blades, curved like an ax with black gauntlets attached to them for the user's protection. They were the perfect weapons for close ranged attacks. Cullan jumped at the sight of them and smiled, "How much you got?"

Yurika dumped all the money she had onto the counter, coins and bills fluttering and clattering everywhere, scaring Cullan a bit. He shifted through them and separated what he wanted and what she could keep, both piles almost even. "There. Thanks," he said, nodding at his customer. Yurika stared at the money and passed him a little more, placing the gauntlet axes down.

"Can you make it so these can be separated and put back together?" she requested, not breaking eye contact with him. Cullan gulped and nodded, telling her to wait while he went in the back.

Treino chuckled, putting the bow down, "You really don't care about statistics, do you?" He held two of the same swords in hand, the sheath white and the blades starting out thin before becoming large, similar to a pirate sword. "I think this is pretty balanced as it is," he said, pointing to the bow.

"Who says I'm using the bow as a primary weapon?" Yurika asked, crossing her arms. Treino stared at her and shrugged when she didn't elaborate, waiting for their clerk to appear again. During their wait, a few people came in and browsed the weapons that were around, some staring at the two in envy at being able to buy cool things early.

Cullan appeared after nearly an hour, Treino having fallen to floor in a near sleeping heap. Yurika leaned against the counter with a calm face, standing straight and kicking Treino's shoulder to wake him up. "I did the best I could, and I added a little pouch for you to put these in," Cullan said, setting down the blades in said pouch that could be attached behind her. The gauntlets still had the holes to places the blades in, but they were nearly unnoticeable.

Yurika smiled at him and put them on, flexing her arms to get used to the weight, "Thanks, Cullan. I'll be sure to buy here again." She stepped back and waited for Treino to finish his purchase before they both left, the blonde boy staring at her weirdly again.

"You didn't buy arrows," he pointed out, his gaze set on the bow strapped to her back. Yurika hummed and looked up once more at the orange sky, knowing it was getting late.

"I know. But like I said, I'm not going to use the bow as a main weapon. I can buy them later," she said, stopping her walk. Yawning, she opened up the menu and rubbed a sky blue eye, "Anyway, it's probably dinner time at my place. I'll see you around, maybe."

She went to log herself out, but found that it wasn't there, the area where it would be completely blank. Treino raised his eyebrows and ran towards her, watching as she tried pressing it. "That's so weird," he said, opening up his own to see the same thing, "You'd think they'd fix all the bugs in the beta..."

"I don't think it's a bug," Yurika commented, pressing the side of her index finger against her lips to think, "There's all sorts of new things in here, all the old bugs gone..."

They exchanged a glance and nodded, taking off running to the main plaza where mostly everyone was, hoping to find an answer.

Asking around didn't help, seeing as most people had the same problem, and they stopped to sit on the ground in exhaustion, silence overtaking them. Yurika rested her chin on her knees, watching as the other players walked around, talking with new friends and old friends. "I don't get it, what's up with the log out button?" she sighed, closing her eyes. Red hair fell around her like a veil, and she pushed it back, wanting nothing but to go home. A few hours at a time of SAO was definitely enough.

Treino sighed as well, "I dunno. It's weird, dude. Maybe they're working on it right now. Like... too many people are here so the servers are burning out or something." His suggestion was realistic, but also dumb. If SAO was capable of holding thousands (maybe millions) of players, as well as have such realistic graphics, it had to have multiple servers.

Suddenly, a bell started ringing, forcing everyone to become silent. Yurika and Treino stood at that moment, their minds blank. They had never heard that bell before...

Blue lights appeared everywhere, players being transported from wherever they were to the main plaza. Yurika saw the two guys from earlier, the black-haired one looking confused. She figured this wasn't something they all did on their own if they were this confused. Suddenly it felt like they were put into a small room, packed tightly to the point it became hard to breathe.

Treino put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down, feeling his own breath quicken. The two had one thing in common: claustrophobia. Knowing they had nowhere else to go and were stuck in a small space was forcing their lungs to work quicker. "It's fine," he panted, holding a hand against his eye.

"Up there," she heard someone say, a loud beeping noise coming from above. A red long hexagon was blinking, the word warning written on it. Then, more and more spread out above the area they were standing in, shading everything a blood red.

Yurika reached behind her to take out her weapons, seeing Treino's thin braid wave in the air from his quick movement to his blades as well. "This isn't good," he whispered, stating the obvious.

"Oh? I thought it was an invitation to a tea party," she replied in a shaky voice, feeling sweat fall from her temple. Her humor was short lived, however, when blood starting dripping from the cracks in the hexagons, forming a large blob surrounded by spurts of lightning.

Another redhead to her side, with a bandana whispered something. "What's that?" he asked his dark-haired friend. Yurika had wondered that herself, but waited for something to happen.

The blood turned into a cloak, and a figure stood in the air, their face hidden. "Game master...?" Treino asked, gulping loudly.

"Why doesn't he have a face then?" Yurika asked back, her hands shaking. If this was an enemy, there was no way they could fight it. She definitely wanted to go home; this was why she didn't want to associate with this game in the first place. This wasn't some welcoming, and if it was, it definitely wasn't a warm one...

"Attention players..." it began, voice feminine and deep. Yurika jumped at the sound of it, and once more when she spread her arms out, "I welcome you to my world."

Treino shook then, his face pale, "It can talk. She? She can talk. Holy crap, Yurika I think I'm going to faint..." Yurika grabbed his sleeve and shook him to shake him out of his blank state of mind, trying to comprehend what was happening. Her eyes started to water a little.

"My name is Kayano Ayaka, the creator of this world. I created SAO to control the fate of a world that was of my design. "

"Holy crap," Treino whispered, along with many other players around them.

"You probably realized the log out button is gone, and I assure you it is _not_ a bug, but an original feature." She demonstrated by opening up her own menu, showing no log out button.

"I told you," Yurika whispered, sending a glance to her shaky blonde friend.

"You can't log out on your own... and no one from the outside can remove the Nerve Gear from your head. Any attempt will... simply put, fry your brains and end your life. Some people already have ignored this, and 213 players have died in Aincrad... and real life."

Windows popped up like ants, showing all kinds of news flying around the large figure of Ayaka. "There have already been multitudes of news reports around the globe, so you can see the seriousness of this action."

"There is also no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero... your avatar will be deleted from the system. Forever."

Yurika felt her throat tighten at the last word, not liking the way the woman had said it. Her blood froze at hearing the next sentence.

"And the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

It couldn't be possible. It was only a game. Only a game! How could something as simple as dying in a game be linked to dying in real life?!

"Right now we're on the lowest floor of Aincrad; defeat each Floor Boss, advance a Floor, and defeat the Floor Boss on the final Floor to clear the game."

Yurika scoffed, not believing those words, "How do you clear an MMO like this? 100 floors are way too difficult..." During the beta testing, her mini team had only made it to the Sixth Floor before she called it quits; after her leave, she heard most of them only got to the Eighth or Ninth Floor.

Ayaka's hand slowly fell, and she stood up straight again, "You can find a present from me in your inventories. Check and find out what it is."

With a gulp, nearly everyone did the action simultaneously, stopping once they found out what it was. A mirror, possibly the most useless thing they had ever seen. Small, hand-sized mirrors popped out, and Yurika caught hers with one hand, not knowing what it was exactly for. Seeing her face, Yurika cried out when a blue light surrounded her, an immense pain flooding through her body. Then, as quick as it came, it was over.

Treino rested a hand on her shoulder with a shake, "Y-Yurika...?"

She turned around, rubbing her eyes and looked up, seeing a similar looking Treino with a shaky smile on his face, but with shorter hair, a long braid falling down to his waist instead of his shoulders. His eyes were not blue, but a dark orange "Treino? That's not you, is it?" she asked, stepping backwards.

"You didn't tell me you were a boy," he said, letting his arms sag, "Man, I had a small crush on you."

"Boy?" she repeated, lifting up her mirror. Indeed, short jet black hair lightly poking out from behind her ears hanging inches above her shoulders was on her head, sharp bangs nearly covering her eyes in a very masculine fashion. Her skin was paler than usual and underneath her bangs were not sky blue eyes, but dark amethyst.

Around her, everyone suddenly looked different than before, some freaking out and others frightened by what they saw. Treino jumped when Yurika looked at him, crossing his arms in a defensive position. "I'm not a boy," she dully said, swiping her bangs to the side. A small shred of feminine features was flashed at him and he sighed, "Anyway... we both know how the Nerve Gear knows what we look like..."

"The question is why," Treino finished, nodding his head.

"You're all probably wondering _why_, aren't you?" Ayaka asked them, "Why would I do this?"

"It's simple: My goal has been achieved. I wanted to create a world to _admire_. That's why I created SAO."

"Well, this ends the Sword Art Online's launch tutorial. I personally wish you players the best of luck."

After that, her body started disappearing, rising up into the sky, the red dome trapping them in the plaza disappearing as well, revealing the orange sky once more. It was dead silent as everyone wondered what to do with themselves, and what the next step was to begin clearing the game.

Then...

"No!" a boy screamed in the background, causing chaos to ensue.

Yurika and Treino flinched when everyone went mad, screaming for an escape, demanding to be let out. They turned to see everyone with angry faces, throwing their mirrors the ground in hopes it would let them go home. Some started running to the spot where Ayaka had been floating, yelling into the sky all sorts of obscenities.

Treino gulped, "_This_ is bad!"

Yurika took a deep breath and started leaving the area once the barrier she never noticed thinned out into nothing. "I'm leaving. Nothing will get done if we just stand around," she said, pulling Treino behind her. She saw the two from before, but like her, they were a different gender than they made their avatars be. Yurika wondered how many people were like that.

"U-uh...Yurika? Um, where exactly are we going?" the blonde asked, stumbling over his feet a bit since he had little control over them. "I vote we start in the forest!" At the level they were at, they could hardly defeat one enemy in the forest. Yurika had a better plan.

She stopped and turned, bumping her face into his chest with a smirk, "No. We start at the Floor's edge. If we blindly go out into the forest, we'll die instantly. The edges always have the enemies that give you the most experience."

Treino thought about it for a moment, then let his mouth form an oval, "I see! Okay, mini guild away!"

As they walked, Yurika felt her body tense up, anger building for the woman that had towered above them minutes earlier. She instantly hated SAO, she instantly hated Kayano Ayaka and she instantly hated any and all VRMMORPGs.

But she'd win, she'd clear the game and go home, no matter how long it took.

* * *

**_I know it's super close to the first episode, but _**all**_ the players saw and heard the exact same things, so I felt it was pretty important to put it in there. Next chapter we acquire some skills, more experience and... character appearances! Hope you liked it!_**

**_And _**Cullan**_ is not pronounced like the vampire. It's pronounced like _**Mulan**_ but with a C._**

**_Genderbend name changes in this chapter:_**

**_Kayaba Akihiko = Kayano Ayaka_**


	2. New Member!

**_Oh yeah, chapter two yo! It's been done for a while, but there were some things that needed editing._**

**_Disclaimer: I'm poor. Nuff said._**

* * *

**_The Sake of Forever_**

**_Chapter 2: New Member!_**

* * *

It was like someone was suffocating her, forcing her head down into the ocean. The pressure against her head was similar to being hit by a high speed car, nearly crushing her skull. Her eyes felt like someone was smothering them with a hot towel, and burned beneath her closed eyelids.

Yurika opened them and shot up from her sleeping position, the feeling of being crushed vanishing instantly. She buried her hands within her hair, feeling for any sort of enemy devices planted on her. She checked for any sort of injury, and found nothing but soft, unblemished pale skin.

She gulped, taking in deep breaths to calm herself down. Besides her and sleeping in a curled position was her blonde friend, smiling in his sleep. A shaky hand went to nudge his shoulder. "Treino, Treino... wake up, you idiot!" she hissed, smacking the blonde snoring at her side. He yelled and waved his arms about, staring at her like she was some monster.

"Eh...who are you again?" he yawned, rubbing his eyes. Yurika huffed and pulled on his braid, eliciting a yell of pain. "Sorry, sorry. Just... not used to seeing you like that..." he shuddered, stretching his arms out.

Yurika mirrored him and nodded, "Well, get used to it. But..." she stared at her shaking hands and ran a hand through her short hair, looking outside their makeshift tent. After training, Treino found a sort of mini cave within a tree, so they took shelter there for the night. "Did you feel that?"

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, "No. What are you talking about?" Treino patted her head and smiled, "It's probably just like an alarm clock. No worries."

"No, you don't get it. It wasn't just a small jolt. My head... it felt like something – _someone_ – was crushing my head..." Yurika pressed her palms against her aching eyes and let out a sigh, "I think someone tried taking off my Nerve Gear."

Treino jumped and gasped, "No way?!" He inched closer and inspected her unharmed head, trying to see through the jet black locks. "You're lucky they didn't actually do it."

She nodded, standing up. The feeling was still there, so she stumbled on her feet a bit, nearly colliding into the wooden wall. Pressing her hands against the bark, she sighed. "We should go. There's no reason to stay here anymore," she said, bending down to pick up her belongings. Checking her main menu, Yurika clicked her tongue, "Damn it. It's still nighttime..."

"No biggie, all the EXP we collected should be enough, not to mention our beta EXP!" Treino said with a confident tone, swinging his blades around like nun chucks. "I mean, yeah we're only like level ten, but we should advance for more challenges!"

Yurika smiled at his words and nodded, placing a hand on her hip before nodding, "Yeah. Let's go!"

"Wait!" Treino yelled, pulling on Yurika's arm to stop her. "How do we advance if we're not strong enough to... kill the boss?"

She froze, and eventually her face fell into a depressed one. "Oh yeah... that... 'kay..." she muttered, dragging her feet out of the tree cove, "Let's go fight some mobs, then..."

"Eh? Wait, Yurika! I was just asking, I didn't actually mean we weren't strong or anything! Hey!" he called, hopping to put his shoe on in order to catch up to the blue Yurika.

Since it was still dark, it meant more of the night enemies were wandering about, which also meant the stronger ones would be lurking. Yurika looked around from her spot against a tree, keeping her breathing silent to avoid being too noisy. If night enemies were one thing, they were amazing at hearing odd noises.

Treino gulped, clutching onto the tree with fear. Yurika stared at him with a dull expression, "What happened to advancing to more challenges?"

"That won't be happening anymore!" he screeched, jumping out of the way of whatever was falling out of the trees. He tripped over his own feet and fell, Yurika taking out her weapons to help him.

Her eyebrows twitched when she realized they were just a bunch of Frenzy Boars. "You idiot," she whispered, walking over to him. Treino looked up and chuckled, standing on his knees with a shaky smile. Yurika nodded at him and they easily defeated the boars, heading on forward.

"So, we going to the meeting tomorrow?" he casually asked, his arms resting behind his head. Yurika shrugged, rubbing her gauntlets with a blanker than blank face. "Oh, come on! We should!" Treino begged, spreading his arms out, "Maybe the toughest people will be there?"

She laughed out loud and patted him on the shoulder, "After one day? Yeah, right! They're out training, which is what we should be doing!" Treino sniffed, and Yurika gently rubbed his head before going ahead.

* * *

After about a week, they couldn't really find anymore enemies that would give them any more EXP, or any that mattered, so they resorted to training with each other. Treino could only use one weapon at a time, seeing as he didn't have the [[Dual Wield]] skill yet, but he managed to switch his hands at very useful times.

Yurika had a knack for blocking attacks, and since she didn't have [[Dual Wield]] either, she managed to use one arm to block with a blade connected to it and the other to attack, switching her combos up to avoid being too continuous. However, even though they became smarter at fighting, they weren't getting the efficient EXP they needed, and she knew they had to go back to fighting puny monsters before they were ready for the boss.

"So," Treino asked one morning at breakfast, which was a measly piece of bread. Having not enough money, Yurika could barely afford drinks to go with it, but it was enough to last a few hours. He scratched his head a little and sighed, "Looks like Frenzy Boars are our friends again, huh..."

She nodded, laying on her back while watching the blue sky slowly turn, as if it was real. She wondered how her family was doing, especially her younger twin brothers. Being only seven, they weren't exactly "manly" as much as other little boys and probably wept for days when the news came out. Maybe it was her sister's influence...

SAO was definitely boring, she noted. With being unable to advance to gain experience and the weak monsters around, they were sitting ducks. Yurika sighed and rubbed one of her eyes, blankly gazing at the artificial clouds, "Is it bad that I wanna PK right now?"

Treino screeched and covered his ears, wiggling about to deflect the question that came into his ears. "Gaaahh! Don't you dare!" he yelled, pointing a finger at her, "You'll totally get the orange cursor!"

Yurika sighed at his banter, ignoring the people that were now staring at her with fear. "Calm down. I'm just saying we have nothing to do for EXP. Jeez," she said, yawning. Treino mimicked her and fell forward on the grass underneath them, punching the ground.

"_So_ boring," he murmured, rubbing his forehead on the dirt. Yurika winced at the sight and stood, blushing at the looks people were giving them. Treino stayed in place, and she kicked his leg, stretching her arms into the air with a groan of satisfaction. "What?" he asked into the grass, moving his head to see her hovering over him.

"I'm leaving," she said, crossing her arms, "I'm gonna try to face the boss, otherwise I'll end up dead in real life before I can even get to the Third Floor." If she didn't, how was she supposed to get home?

Again, he shrieked and covered his ears, rolling around, "No, no, no!" He shot up and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her until her eyes were rolling around, "You'll end up dead anyway if you do that!"

Yurika shoved him away, trying to regain sense of where she was looking. After the dizziness subsided, she shook her head, "Then what do we do?"

He smirked in a very evil manner, and then dragged her behind him, ignoring her pleas.

* * *

Cullan had been wiped out within the first day, and he sighed against his now empty display case. Or rather, one of many. "Haah... what to do with the store now? I have to pay rent and order all new items!"

After everything happened on the day SAO came out, Cullan found himself stripped of his green attire, and now stood with his bleached white hair and blue colored contacts, which his Nerve Gear thought were real. Many girls who came in ended up with crushes on him, although he was never interested.

The door opened with a jingle, and he let out a deep breath of apology, rubbing his hand on the glass that once had been beautifully full of swords and knives, now empty. "Sorry, I'm all out of stock right now, but try again later and maybe I'll have something..." he said, wiping a teary eye.

"You idiot!" Treino chuckled, waving his arms in the air. Cullan jumped and turned, seeing his first two customers. The blonde grinned and patted him on the shoulder, smirking, "We're not here for weapons! By the way... nice hair dude!"

Cullan stared at him, then at the still Yurika, before his skin turned ghost white to accompany his hair. "No way, already? Don't you have enough EXP?" he asked, voice shaky. When the two didn't answer, he sighed and nodded, "Fine. Just don't tell anyone outside of this place that I have this. I'm probably gonna end up leaving my store anyway."

Treino and Yurika shared a silent high five before he led them to the back, where it looked like a really old smoke room with old, rotten bricks and a wooden table for making weapons, a fire place in the corner for heating metal. Many dangerous things were sitting around, and the only polished thing was a black sword sitting on a shiny black stand, Cullan taking that into his grasp.

"You bleach your hair?" Yurika asked out of the blue, seeing the white locks bob up and down as they walked down a flight of stairs. It slowly stopped smelling of fire, which meant they were pretty low in the ground, and started smelling like tar.

Cullan blushed and rubbed his hair out of habit, chuckling, "Haha...yeah, I do. People think I'm some delinquent at school, b-but I'm not!"

"You're right," Treino agreed, nodding. "You're an uke!"

"I'm not gay, dude," Cullan hissed, jabbing his sword's sheath into Treino's thigh, earning a groan of pain. The stairs began to narrow and they could hear people yelling, as well as some sparks coming from weapons. Cullan sighed and motioned to the dark area, "This is where I hold private matches between people willing to fight each other to gain massive EXP. Right now it's a small thing, but I feel it'll grow bigger."

The two were amazed at the arena set for players to fight; it was almost like an old style home, with bricks around like his back room, and wooden bleachers for spectators. Two guys were fighting it out and from a public scoreboard across the room, their HP was slowly nearing zero. Treino hissed and shook his head, "Sorry, not doing this, especially since it promotes murder. I'll stick with the AI." He shrugged when Cullan gave him a blank stare, "Hey, I thought you hosted strong AI matches, not people against _people_."

Yurika nodded, turning for the stairs again. "As much as I need the EXP, I'll pass on this. No way am I gonna risk getting killed like that..." Cullan nodded at her (getting a 'I said the same thing!' from Treino) and told them to keep it a secret, which they did before leaving.

Outside, it had already turned dark and Yurika blinked at how fast the time went. "I'm hungry," Treino whined, his stomach producing a loud rumble. Yurika agreed, and with the little money they had, they went to the cheapest place they knew. Or at least knew from the beta.

Their walk was short and they soon found themselves looking at a brightly lit sign, the small wooden door wide open for anyone to enter.

There were a lot of people inside seeing as it was a Friday night (and even in a game people went out), but they managed to get front seats, and a redhead greeted them with a smile on her face. Treino's mouth opened, his eyes glued to her, which made her flinch and step back a little. Yurika blushed at him and shoved his shoulder, knocking him into a buff guy sitting next to him.

"Sorry," she apologized, rubbing the back of her head, "What's the cheapest thing you have here?"

The redhead placed a finger to her chin, then shrugged, "Water?" Behind her, telling the truth, was a small menu showing all the prices, and of course, all they could afford was indeed water.

"Two please, in bowls with spoons," the two said simultaneously, eyes void of any enjoyment. When their "meal" arrived (which didn't really take long considering what they ordered), the redhead giggled at them, especially when they gave a very monotone, "Let's eat!"

"Hey, Arata-kun," they heard while drinking their water. Some people stopped talking at the name mention, and girls swooned at whoever walked in. Treino and Yurika both spun in their chairs to see the newcomer, a hood over his face in a dark navy long sleeve, his hand on his hip. His half visible eyes were a light brown, examining the chubby player who came up to him.

Slowly, he smirked, "Hey."

He walked around the table to sit next to Yurika, ordering something they couldn't afford. Treino mumbled something about him being a toughie and rich. The dark-haired girl chuckled and shook her head, going back to sip on her water. In front of them and blushing was their redheaded waitress, who shook while giving Arata's change back.

"Look, I told you I'm not selling it," he sighed when the girl was out of ear shot, rolling his brown eyes. At his side was the same chubby player, wearing glasses and holding out his hands as if begging him for money. Arata simply shook his head and tapped his fingers on the counter top, ignoring his banter of insults.

Suddenly, a sword was pulled out and the plump guy roared in anger, rushing at Arata with his short weapon.

_Linear_

A blast of wind stopped his movements for a split second before he was sent crashing into the door, breaking it into thousands of blue polygons. Standing with a snarl, Arata was holding a white and dark handled Rapier, then put it away at seeing everyone freeze in fear. "Get out of here," he simply said, turning to sit back down. The guy sitting on the floor gasped and got up, running away immediately.

"Sorry," he apologized to the redhead, who was glaring at him for breaking the door. The silence stretched, and he ended up leaving after getting his food to go. Treino gulped and chuckled, lifting up his bowl to finish the last of his water before sighing in content.

"Let's go, Yurika," he said, nudging her shoulder. The dark-haired girl nodded, and whimpered when the last of her money disappeared, following the blonde outside.

* * *

They had nothing else to do at the [[Starting City]], so they ventured off to the forest again, hoping their tree hadn't been occupied. Before they got there, however, Yurika spotted someone in the shadows, their footsteps a little clumsy, and creating noise she was able to trace.

"Oh crap, oh crap," Treino muttered, having seen them too. He brought out a blade and let out a deep breath at the same time. "Come on out!"

Yurika was surprised at his confidence, and nodded to agree with him, "We won't sleep if someone keeps following us around." Her eyes were burning again, although her head wasn't feeling like it was getting crushed. She could probably fight for another ten minutes before it happened.

Leaping out of the shadows, and wearing a dark brown cloak with a large hood, the masked person looked up, the smiling clown face looking a little too happy. Treino grimaced, "Eww... come on dude, take off the mask."

They chuckled, revealing they weren't a boy, and took the lower half off, throwing it to the side. "You two have unique weapons," she said, causing Yurika to shiver at the sound of her voice, "How about you give them to me and you won't die?"

Yurika looked for an orange cursor above her head, but found nothing aside from a green one. Her HP was barely at 100, which wasn't exactly a lot after a week of training. "Why?" she asked, her eyes going for the sword sitting at her side, "You have a sword."

Indeed, there was a sword sitting on her hip, a red gem glowing in the slight moonlight they rarely could see in the forest. "So what?" she asked, with a shrug, taking it out. It was normal sized, but the tip was colored red, as if painted on. Yurika quirked her eyebrows and Treino simply groaned.

"You're strange, lady," he said, putting away his weapons. Said lady stomped her foot and they could see a dark red splattered on her cheeks, her mumble inaudible. Treino shrieked from the ferocity of her stomp, but laughed when he saw her blush, "Haha! All bark no bite!"

Yurika sighed at his idiocy and placed a hand on her hip, "So, what do you want? Money? Because we have nothing, and we're not giving you our weapons." She felt her head throbbing again, but then it subsided, and she let out a deep breath.

The girl stepped forward, pointing her weapon at the still chuckling Treino, "How about you, idiot? I hardly doubt you two are dating, so what do you have?" She smirked when he held his hands up, shaking his head, "Okay, if you won't talk..."

Yurika flipped her blades on and rushed at her before she could strike the blonde, blocking her attack with a cross of her arms. The sound reverberated throughout her body, her arms struggling against the force of the hooded figure's sword. She felt her feet skid behind her, her back bending backwards from the force.

"What...the...hell..." she managed to hiss out, feeling her arms burning. Or rather, literally burning; a source of heat had formed on her gauntlets, the metal slowly caving in and dripping on her skin. Yurika noticed her HP deteriorating and hissed from the hot sensations. At the tip, where the red was, was a glowing color.

Treino, watching from behind them and finally realizing what was happening, saw the glow forming on her arms and gasped. "Hey, Yurika!" he yelled, grabbing his weapon again. The girl jumped, giving Yurika the opening to slip away, taking off her gauntlets. Circle shaped orange wounds were on her arms, and she had nothing to put on them.

The blonde boy jumped in front of their enemy and blocked the heated weapon, gritting his teeth in fear when small sparks flew by his eyes.

"Be careful," Yurika advised, getting on her knees to wrap her arms. Without any sort of ointment, the gauze _burned_.

Treino gulped, closing his eyes to remember the move he saw Arata do earlier that night. With a growl he lowered his blade and felt a move come to him, dodging a slash; he could feel the heat singing his cheek a little. He started watching Yurika put her damaged weapons back on and give him a smirk, then ran his blade upwards.

_Rage Spike_

"Yurika!" he called, rolling out of the way now that he managed to distract their enemy. With a leap in the air she didn't know she could do, Yurika placed one arm above the other in a defensive position, watching the other girl's weapon before sliding her arm in the opposite direction horizontally, sparks flying from the attack. Not quite done, she did vertical slashes, lights forming a square.

_Vertical_

Her blade cracked, and she jumped out of the way when the sword the girl held broke into four pieces, orange wounds appearing on her arms from the final strike.

Falling to her knees, the girl sighed, staring at the ground. Treino, standing, put his blades away and held out a hand, grinning. In the background, near tears from the burning on her skin, Yurika glared at his back.

"Join our Mini Guild!" he said, looking back at Yurika to wiggle his eyebrows. The short-haired girl blushed and jumped, frowning at his suggestion. Looking down, he was met with a familiar face. "Whoa!?"

Her hood and mask finally fell, and long red hair tied into a very low ponytail cascaded onto the dirt, eyes full of tears. Looking up at them was the waitress from before, sniffling and acting completely different from how she was just a minute ago. Yurika's eyes went wide, and she went on one knee to get eye level with her.

Raising an eyebrow, she tilted her head, "What are _you_ doing mugging people?"

The girl blushed and looked away, muttering something. When the two looked at her funny, she sighed and stood up, throwing her cloak to the floor. Instead of her uniform they saw earlier, she was wearing a red version of Arata's outfit. Yurika did the same and stood, and found she was just a little taller than her. "I just... needed the money. There's a rumor going around that if you have enough money, you can automatically advance to the next Floor... so, if I got cool weapons, and sold them... well, you know..." she explained, playing with her fingers.

Yurika patted her shoulder, smiling, "Well, it's not true. Besides, stealing from people isn't good you know."

Before they could say anything else, Treino started laughing, "Rumors are rumors, all right?" Yurika punched his arm for repeating what she just said, and then he looked up at the redhead in pain. "So... wanna join us or not?" Treino said.

When Yurika had hit Treino, with a comedic expression on her face, the girl had burst out into giggles, so she barely heard his question. Yurika smiled at her, the happiness somewhat contagious, and she looked at the blonde who was still rubbing his shoulder. "Okay," she said, wiping a teary eye. She jumped when they opened their menus, eyes blank as if they were the same person. "Oh! My name is Sora."

They nodded and confirmed their friendship before Treino asked her to join the Mini Guild again (which is what it had somehow became officially named to him). Sora nodded and blushed at their excited faces, then looked down at her broken weapon. Her eyes turned blank like theirs did, and she sighed.

However, Treino stopped her from becoming negative and winked, "We got your back, bro!"

Yurika face palmed at his American slang and sighed, "Just go to bed, Treino..."

* * *

The next morning, Cullan's eyebrow twitched, and he hummed when staring at the completely broken weapon. "This is yours?" he asked, looking up at the redhead, who nodded with a scared expression. Sora gasped when he literally slammed a hammer on the broken blade and pieced it back together. However, the red tip was missing, and replaced with a normal piece of metal.

"Thank you," she shakily said, feeling for any remnants of the red tip. Cullan cleared his throat and held it up, making her jump.

"You know, if I didn't know what this was, I would've totally thrown it away. But you can have it back..." he started, placing the red thing on the counter, blue eyes gleaming in mischief, "For all of your money – oof!"

He was sent to the floor when a huge pile of money fell on him, Sora looking at him expectantly. Yurika and Treino's jaws fell at the sight of the huge bag, their wallets screaming to be filled with it. Cullan chuckled darkly, already seeing the millions of weapons decorating his shop once more.

With another slam, he replaced the red tip as well as broke his glass counter. Freezing in place and not even looking up, Cullan stared at it with a nonchalant expression before he screamed in agony at the sight, Sora clutching her sword in fright from the strength he possessed. Yurika simply pushed her outside while Treino tried calming him down.

"Just walk. I don't think we should be coming here for a while," she whispered, praying their blonde friend would make it out alive.

* * *

**_Whew! Another boring chapter done! Well, not really boring, but you know what I mean. Next chapter we'll actually be doing something other than recruiting people for the Mini Guild._**

**_Genderbended name changes in this chapter:_**

**_Asuna = Arata_**


End file.
